Jandy Hardesty’s review published on Letterboxd:
Film 8 for the Letterboxd Season Challenge. The other films I plan to watch for the challenge are here.
Week 8: Old School Horror Week
Challenge: Watch one previously unseen horror movie made between 1920 and 1935.
Running WAY late on this week's challenge, which was supposed to be over Halloween, but I really wanted to scratch some Lon Chaney off my list, so I'm glad I got to it, late or not.
The Unknown barely counts as a feature at only about 50 minutes long, but I love films that get in, get out, and get the job done, and that's what this did. Chaney is armless knife-thrower Alonzo (he throws with his feet) at a circus desperately in love with Nanon, the girl he throws knives at (a very young and alluring Joan Crawford); so is Malamar the strong man.
Nanon has her own issues - she's been pawed over and leered at by men for her whole life, and she has a terror of men's hands. This is a good deal for Alonzo, but it's pretty clear Nanon is more attracted to Malamar, despite his hands. But Alonzo has a pretty major secret.
Chaney indulges in some pretty stereotypical silent mugging, but it works for the tone of the piece, and I greatly enjoyed the twists and turns of the plot, all of which are pretty devastatingly perfect in their irony. Plus it's really fun to see such a young Joan Crawford, already spouting some great one-liners about misogynists.
After watching a movie, I always rank it on my Flickchart, a website for ranking movies and creating a list of your favorite movies. Here's how The Unknown entered my chart.
The Unknown > Damn Yankees
The Unknown < It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
The Unknown > The Love Competition
The Unknown < Criminal
The Unknown > The Shaggy Dog
The Unknown < The Queen
The Unknown < Bram Stoker’s Dracula
The Unknown > The Rink
The Unknown < The Blob
The Unknown > Dracula
The Unknown < Der Fuehrer’s Face
Final #1206 out of 3563